Today's HERALD has an interesting report titled "Luizinho, Sardinha sing Dabolim mantra". It seems the politicians are getting the message at last. Luizinho reportedly "demanded that the MPs on the committee should ensure additional funds from the Civil Aviation Ministry. 'Right now let all of us including the MPs forget Mopa by getting additional land, money and state-of-the-art facilties for Dabolim ', Faleiro maintained". Sardinha exclaimed Dabolim will "never, ever" close down.
The focus on Dabolim is fine as far as it goes. But its still a "Dabolim vs Mopa" game not "Dabolim + Mopa". It struck me as odd that both the gents read out the same Churchill transcript of 2000 and claimed he (Churchill) favoured "two airports" at that time. How could that be when the speech was made in the wake of the announcement that Dabolim would be closed when Mopa was ready? In this connection it is interesting that Luizinho now asks for an "interim report" of the committee "to assure that Dabolim will continue as the international ... airport" conveniently omitting a mention of Mopa and, more significantly, the Union Cabinet resolution of March 2000 which is the real thorn in Goa's flesh.
